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Nijinsky, usually known in the United States as Nijinsky II, was a Canadian-bred, Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was the outstanding two-year-old in Europe in 1969 when he was unbeaten in five races. In the following season, he became the first horse for thirty-five years to win the English Triple Crown, a feat that has not been repeated as of 2021. He is regarded by many experts to have been the greatest flat racehorse in Europe during the 20th century.
Easy Goer was an American Champion Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse known for earning American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt honors in 1988 and defeating 1989 American Horse of the Year Sunday Silence in the Belmont Stakes by eight lengths. Both horses were later voted into the American Hall of Fame. The victory deprived Sunday Silence of the Triple Crown. It was also the second-fastest Belmont in history, behind only the record performance of Secretariat in 1973. Easy Goer was the first two-year-old champion to win a Triple Crown race since Spectacular Bid in 1979. Easy Goer also ran the fastest mile on dirt by any three-year-old in the history of Thoroughbred racing with a time of 1:32+2⁄5, which was a second faster than Secretariat's stakes record, and one-fifth of a second off of the world record set by Dr. Fager in 1968.
Kinghaven Farms is a horse racing stable that was founded in 1967 by Donald G. "Bud" Willmot. Located in King City, Ontario, north of Toronto, the success of the stable would see it expand to the United States with the acquisition of a 660-acre (2.7 km2) farm and training center near Ocala, Florida. In 1974, Bud's son David S. Willmot began managing the farm's racing/breeding programs. In 2004, David Willmot announced that Kinghaven was shutting down its Thoroughbred operation, although he would continue to race a handful of horses in the following years.
Shannon (1941–1955), named Shannon II in America, was an outstanding Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who was inducted into the Hall of Fame. He created new racecourse records in Australia before he was sold to an American buyer who exported him to California in 1948. There Shannon equalled the world record of 1:473⁄5 for the nine furlongs in winning the Forty Niner Handicap Stakes, then one week later equalled the world record of 1:594⁄5 for a mile and a quarter. Shannon was named the 1948 American Champion Older Male Horse. At stud in America he proved to be a good sire.
The Beyer Speed Figure is a system for rating the performance of Thoroughbred racehorses in North America designed in the early 1970s by Andrew Beyer, the syndicated horse racing columnist for The Washington Post. First published in book form in 1975, the Daily Racing Form began incorporating Beyer Speed Figures in a horse's past performances in 1992 and the system now assigns a Beyer number for each horse race. Overall, the number reflects not only the winning time, but the time of the race and the inherent speed of the track over which it was run. On the Beyer scale, the top stakes horses in the United States and Canada earn numbers in the 100s, while extremely strong performances can rate in the 120s or higher. In Europe, Timeform has a similar rating scale that yields a number, but with a different value. The popular rule of thumb for a rough equivalent of the Timeform score is to deduct 12-14 points to achieve the Beyer figure. For American Quarter Horse racing, the Speed index rating system is used.
With Approval was a Thoroughbred racehorse who won the Canadian Triple Crown in 1989 under jockey Don Seymour. Even though he missed the rest of his three-year-old season due to injury, he was named the 1989 Canadian Horse of the Year.
Deputy Minister was a Canadian-bred Thoroughbred horse racing Champion. At age two, he won eight out of his nine starts and was voted both the Sovereign and Eclipse Awards for Champion 2-Year-Old in Canada and the United States respectively. He also received Canada's Sovereign Award for Horse of the Year. Although his three-year-old campaign was restricted by injury, Deputy Minister rebounded at age four with several major wins.
Bertrando was an American Thoroughbred Champion racehorse. A tall colt that grew to 16 hands 2 inches, Bertrando was bred by Ed Nahem at River Edge Farm in Buellton, California. He was sired by Skywalker, that won the 1986 Breeders' Cup Classic.
John J. Tammaro Jr. was an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer.
Alydeed is a Canadian Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred by Anderson Farms of St. Thomas, Ontario, he was out of the unraced mare Bialy, a daughter of U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Alydar. A grandson of British Triple Crown winner Nijinsky, he was sired by Shadeed, the 1985 British Champion Miler and winner of the British Classic, the 2,000 Guineas.
Talkin Man is a Thoroughbred racehorse who was the Canadian Champion 2-year-old colt of 1994 after winning the Coronation Futurity and Grey Stakes. At age three, he won the Gotham Stakes and Wood Memorial before finishing twelfth as one of the favorites in the 1995 Kentucky Derby. His last start was a sixth-place finish in the Preakness Stakes. Retired to stud, his most successful offspring was Breeders' Cup Turf winner Better Talk Now.
Play the King (1983–1989) was a Canadian Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred and raced by Kinghaven Farms of King City, Ontario, he was sired by King of Spain, a descendant of the very important sire Nearco. His dam was Whisper whose sire Laugh Aloud was a son of U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Tom Fool.
The Play the King Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. A Grade II sprint race, it is open to horses age three and older and is run over a distance of seven furlongs on turf. It currently offers a purse of CAN$200,000.
The Shady Well Stakes is a Thoroughbred horse race run annually since 2000 at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Held in mid July, the ungraded stakes race is open to two-year-old fillies foaled in the Province of Ontario. A sprint race, it is contested over a distance of 5+1⁄2 furlongs on Polytrack synthetic dirt, it currently offers a purse of $118,500. It was raced in two divisions in 1958 and 1968.
The Bunty Lawless Stakes is a Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Canada. An Ontario Sire Stakes, it is a race for horses age three and older. Run near the end of October, it is contested over a distance of 1 mile on turf and currently carries a purse of $96,563.
Steady Growth was a Canadian Thoroughbred Champion racehorse.
Groovy (1983–2006) was an American Thoroughbred Champion sprint racehorse known for his love of jelly donuts. He is the only horse to break the 130 Beyer Speed Figure, accomplishing that milestone in his first two starts of 1987. In the Roseben Handicap at Belmont Racetrack, he earned a 131 rating, which he followed up with a 134 in the True North Handicap.
Northern Baby was a Canadian-bred, French-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a racing career which lasted from October 1978 until September 1980 he won five of his seventeen races. After showing promising form as a two-year-old he emerged as a top-class middle-distance performer in 1979, winning the Prix de la Côte Normande in France but showing his best form in England, where he finished third in both The Derby and the Eclipse Stakes before recording his most important victory in the Champion Stakes. He remained in training as a four-year-old with mixed success, running several moderate races but defeating the outstanding filly Three Troikas in the Prix Dollar. He was retired to stud and became a very successful sire of steeplechasers. He died in 2007 at the advanced age of thirty-one.
War Front is an American Thoroughbred racehorse. In 2006 he won the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap and finished second in the Forego Handicap and Vosburgh Stakes. Since retiring from racing he has become one of the most expensive sires in the world. His offspring include Declaration of War, The Factor, Roly Poly, U S Navy Flag, Omaha Beach and War of Will.
Helvic Dream is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse. He won two minor races as a two-year-old in 2019 and made steady progress in the following year, taking the Group 3 International Stakes. In the spring of 2021 he made further improvement, finishing second in the Mooresbridge Stakes before winning the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup.